His Dark Materials (book series)
|number of books = 3 |book titles = #''Northern Lights'' #''The Subtle Knife'' #''The Amber Spyglass'' |publisher = *Scholastic (UK) *Alfred A. Knopf (US) |release dates = 1995-2000 }} His Dark Materials is a fantasy series by Philip Pullman, consisting of a trilogy of novels and three companion books. The trilogy has also been published as a single-volume omnibus in the United Kingdom and North America, titled His Dark Materials. The series is a coming-of-age story which follows Lyra Silvertongue, previously known as Lyra Belacqua, and later Will Parry as they travel between the worlds of the multiverse. Fantasy elements in the story include witches, panserbjørne and mulefa. Titles Original trilogy The following is a list of the books in the original series: #''Northern Lights'' (known as The Golden Compass in the United States and other countries) #''The Subtle Knife'' #''The Amber Spyglass'' Companion books Pullman has also written three small companion works to the series: *''Lyra's Oxford'' *''Once Upon a Time in the North'' (published 3 April 2008) *''The Collectors (only available as audio and e-book) The Book of Dust The follow-up trilogy to ''His Dark Materials, The Book of Dust, is currently being written: # La Belle Sauvage (published 19 October 2017) # The Secret Commonwealth (published 3 October 2019) # TBA Audiobook editions The books of the original trilogy have been released as unabridged audiobooks, read by Philip Pullman with a cast providing the voices for the characters. Adaptations Radio The trilogy was adapted as a radio play and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003. It starred as Lord Asriel and as Lyra. The drama is now published by the BBC on CD. In the same year, a radio drama of Northern Lights was made by RTÉ (Irish public radio). Theatre A theatrical adaptation of the trilogy was written by . The play is published by Nick Hern Books. The original production was performed at London's Royal National Theatre, running from December 2003 to March 2004. The play was revived in 2004 with a revised script, running from November 2004 to April 2005. La Belle Sauvage has been adapted by into a play which (who directed the original play) will direct at the in October or November 2020.Twitter Film The first book in the trilogy was adapted for film under the title The Golden Compass. The film was directed by Chris Weitz and had a mixed reception, and though worldwide sales were strong, its U.S. earnings were not as high as the studio had hoped. The filmmakers obscured the explicitly Biblical character of the Authority to avoid offending viewers. Weitz declared that he would not do the same for the planned sequels. "Whereas The Golden Compass had to be introduced to the public carefully", he said, "the religious themes in the second and third books can't be minimised without destroying the spirit of these books. ...I will not be involved with any 'watering down' of books two and three, since what I have been working towards the whole time in the first film is to be able to deliver on the second and third". In May 2006, Pullman said of a version of the script that "all the important scenes are there and will have their full value"; in March 2008, he said of the finished film that "a lot of things about it were good.... Nothing can bring out all that's in the book. There are always compromises." The Golden Compass film stars as Lyra, as Lord Asriel, as Marisa Coulter, as Serafina Pekkala and as the voice of Iorek Byrnison. The film ran into trouble with the Catholic League, whose leader, William Donohue, called for Catholics to boycott it, lest young viewers might read the books, which, they claimed, denigrated Christianity and promoted atheism for children. Whilst Sam Elliott blamed this opposition for forcing the cancellation of any adaptations of the rest of the trilogy, The Guardian's film critic Stuart Heritage believed poor reviews may have been the real reason. Plus, Dakota Blue Richards is now an adult and Daniel Craig is many times more expensive since he became James Bond in 2006. Television As part of making up for the failed Golden Compass film, the trilogy is currently being adapted into a BBC television adaptation starring , , , and Amir Wilson. Graphic novel The graphic novel for Northern Lights was originally planned to be released in three parts. In 2015, the first instalment of these sections was released with the second being published in 2016. A full omnibus was later released in 2017. Since, then a novel for The Subtle Knife has been released in French but no English translation has been made. Gallery Original trilogy Northern Lights/The Golden Compass Northern Lights.jpg|''Northern Lights'' first edition hardback cover published July 9th 1995 by Scholastic Children's Books Golden compass.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' hardback cover published April 16th 1996 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers The Golden Compass 1997.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' paperback cover published March 30th 1997 by Del Rey Books Northern Lights Book Cover.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published October 23rd 1998 by Scholastic Point The Golden Compass 2001.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' paperback cover published May 22nd 2001 by Yearling Northern Lights 2001 adult.jpg|''Northern Lights'' adult's edition paperback cover published September 14th 2001 by Scholastic Press The Golden Compass November 2001.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' kindle edition cover published November 13th 2001 by A. Knopf Books for Young Readers The Golden Compass 2002.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' paperback cover published September 10th 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers Northern Lights 2005.jpg|''Northern Lights'' hardback 10th anniversary edition cover published 2005 by Scholastic The Golden Compass 2006.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' hardback deluxe 10th anniversary edition cover published October 24th 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers Northern Lights 2007.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published March 5th 2007 by Scholastic Northern Lights March 2007.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published March 5th 2007 by Scholastic Northern Lights Lantern Slides.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback Lantern Slides edition cover published May 7th 2007 by Scholastic Northern Lights 2007 film.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published 2007 by Scholastic UK Ltd after the film's release Northern Lights cover.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published April 1st 2011 by Scholastic Northern Lights 2013.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published October 3rd 2013 by Scholastic Northern Lights 2014.jpg|''Northern Lights'' hardback 20th anniversary edition cover published November 6th 2014 by Scholastic Press Northern Lights 2015.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback 20th anniversary edition cover published March 5th 2015 by Scholastic The Golden Compass 2015.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' hardback 20th anniversary edition cover published September 22nd 2015 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers NL 2017 Cover.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover published October 19th 2017 by Scholastic The Golden Compass HBO tie-in.jpg|''The Golden Compass'' paperback cover TV tie-in published October 1st 2019 Northern Lights TV tie-in.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback cover TV tie-in published October 3rd 2019 by Scholastic Northern Lights 2019.jpg|''Northern Lights'' paperback gift edition published 3rd October 2019 by Scholastic The Subtle Knife The Subtle Knife 1st edition.jpg|''The Subtle Knife'' hardback first edition published 1997 by Scholastic The Subtle Knife 1997.jpg|''The Subtle Knife'' hardback first American edition cover published July 22nd 1997 by A. Knopf Books for Young Readers The Subtle Knife.jpg|''The Subtle Knife'' paperback cover published October 16th 1998 by Scholastic Point Subtle Knife cover.jpg|''The Subtle Knife'' paperback cover published March 1st 2011 by Scholastic TSK 2017 Cover.jpg|''The Subtle Knife'' paperback cover published October 19th 2017 by Scholastic TSK2015.jpg|The 2015 edition printed for the 20th anniversary of the series The Amber Spyglass The Amber Spyglass Book Cover.jpg|''The Amber Spyglass'' old cover TAS2003.jpg|The 2003 edition of The Amber Spyglass Amber Spyglass cover.jpg|''The Amber Spyglass'' 2011 cover TAS 2017 Cover.jpg|''The Amber Spyglass'' 2017 cover TAS20AE.jpg|The 2015 edition of the Amber Spyglass, printed for the 20th Anniversary of the series The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage poster.jpg|Original book poster for La Belle Sauvage La Belle Sauvage Cover.jpg|''La Belle Sauvage'' first edition (2017) cover La Belle Sauvage US Cover.jpg|''La Belle Sauvage'' first edition (2017) US cover The Secret Commonwealth cover.jpg|Original book poster for The Secret Commonwealth The Secret Commonwealth final cover.jpg|''The Secret Commonwealth'' first edition (2019) cover The Secret Commonwealth US.jpg|''The Secret Commonwealth'' first edition (2019) US cover Companion books Lyra's Oxford.jpg|''Lyra's Oxford'' first edition (2003) cover Lyra's Oxford-A Companion To His Dark Materials new cover.jpg|''Lyra's Oxford'' Yearling 2017 cover Once Upon a Time in the North.jpg|''Once Upon a Time in the North'' first edition (2008) cover The Collectors.jpg|''The Collectors'' audiobook cover The Collectors Book Cover.jpg|''The Collectors'' ebook cover Graphic novels Northern Lights Graphic Novel.jpg|Graphic novel omnibus cover Golden Compass GN vol 1.jpg|Graphic novel 1st volume US cover References it:Queste oscure materie (serie di libri) pt-br:Fronteiras do Universo fr:À la Croisée des Mondes ru:Тёмные начала Category:Books (real-world)